HD Plasma TV and games?

Question

We got a HD Plasma TV today. Right now we are instaling it downstairs. I have a PS2 downstairs that I like to play. My parents are going to move it upstairs on the older TV because they think games will shorten the life of the new TV. Is that true? I don't want your opinion, I need facts.

Thanks:)

Answer 1

If your parents are looking for a reason to boot you off the downstairs TV, you'll have a devil of a job convincing them otherwise :)

A game's image is no more detrimental to a TV than any other.  In fact, a lot of games these days are quite dark.  Darker images take life out of a TV slower ... but the difference is negligable.

What _will_ reduce the life of a plasma TV is burn-in.  If you leave a static (unchanging) image on the screen for very long time (several hours) the image can be retained permanently.  

It's been so long since I've played my PS2, I can't remember if it has a screen dimming or screen-saver function built it.  I can see that if you pause the game during play, and leave it on overnight there might be some risk, but that's the same risk as leaving a DVD on the menu screen.

One thing to consider is Heads Up Displays (HUDs) on games.  There are the things like the health bar, or mini-map.  Because these stay in one place on the screen, these _can_ have a tendancy to burn in.  But being completely honest, the same problem occurs with many TV Channels that display their logos in the corners of the screen.  

I have a plasma screen and I know my Mrs likes to watch a particular breakfast program that has a bright blue and yellow clock in the corner, it sometimes stays there for a while after changing the channel.  Similarly I spent about 150 hours playing Oblivion which left a mark from the health bar in the bottom corner.  But both of these blemishes have smoothed out over time.

Hope it helps!